Like I said, the trouble was my blunder somewhere.
As to the reflectance of the Spazstix, I understand your point about the silver paint effect.
I'm guessing there are two factors influencing the end result:
a) the roughness of the substrate
b) the application of the Spazstix
Your gloss black Krylon provides a very smooth substrate. My guess is smoother than the as-molded original that received a vacuum-deposited aluminum coating.
The process I went through left a rougher surface, primarily from the adhesion promoter, which left almost an "orange peel" effect. The SEM black was thin and conformed well to the substrate. In this case, it was not as smooth as the Krylon would be. I think the SEM black was not designed to build as much as the Krylon, so the net was probably a rougher substrate on mine than what you end up with.
As to the application, I could see how an airbrush might help. The aerosol I used had a good nozzle, but the formulation seemed to flash really quick and it took quite a bit of material to look uniform. In the end, this might cause a rougher surface with aluminum flakes that don't lay down and look more like spray paint silver.
This is all speculation, and in the end, I'm really happy with the way it turned out. It looks great compared to where I started.
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